Top Zig Ziglar truisms that apply to selling insurance

By David Shields

WealthMark Advisors, Inc

A goal properly set is halfway reached.

According to Zig Ziglar, only 3 percent of Americans set goals, but those that do are among the wealthiest in the country. He recommends picking up a paper and pen and dreaming big — writing down everything you want for yourself. Return to it a day or two later to make an analysis. The goal should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-certain.

He also recommends setting goals in terms of short-range (a month or less), intermediate (one month to a year) and long-range (one year or more).

A lot of people quit looking for work as soon as they find a job. Ziglar once recalled a letter he received from an avid reader who thought he was finished accomplishing his goals; that there was nowhere to go from there.

We’d all kill to have that problem, but here’s the thing – without purpose, it doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. And, as Ziglar put it, “If you do not have purpose, passion wears you out.”

It's not what you've got, it's what you use that makes a difference.

"Be grateful for your problems,” says Ziglar, whose stance is that problem solving makes us more capable. If you didn’t have problems on the job, anyone off the street could do it. As is the case for runners, working your way uphill makes you much stronger than trotting downhill.

He uses the example of boxer Gene Tonney, who was taken out by breaking both hands. Did he retire? Nope. He changed his strategy to win scientifically, not by delivering the hard blows. History would later deem him one of the best boxers in the sport.

People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing — that's why we recommend it daily. Ziglar asserts that motivation isn’t permanent, but its results are, if you apply it. He uses the example of a child who was underperforming academically. The parents began playing motivational tapes in the car. At one point, when Dad wanted to hear the news, the girl asked him to put back on the motivational tapes. The girl became an A student, even making the honor society. Ziglar credits this to regularly reinforced motivation. Had she only listened to the tapes once, it would have gone in one ear and out the other.

Success is the maximum utilization of the ability that you have. Ziglar works hard and plays hard. When he’s at work, he’s working. When he’s with family, it’s all about family. While he’s away on business, he’s planning presentations on flights, reading an hour before bed, and writing notes and dictating them into articles. He’s completely focused on his job so that when he is home with family, he can focus on them. He recalls the experience of former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and Hall of Famer Roger Staubach, who made the best grades in school while playing football because he had to use the time he had. He is now a successful businessman.